Baby Girl

Well for those of you who read my blog but not facebook, we're having a GIRL! I'm way late posting about it considering we found out 17 weeks ago. In fact, I'm really just way late posting anything. I'm now almost 37 weeks pregnant.

A few important things have happened in the past few months, besides gaining 35 pounds.

• I had 3 baby showers. One in AZ, one in ID, and one in UT. I guess that happens when an Arizona girl lives in Utah and marries and Idaho boy.
• I almost thought I had Gestational Diabetes, but then I passed the second test with flying colors. I was really scared for a day though.
• I found out I'm very anemic when I'm pregnant! The doctors have me taking two prescription strength iron supplements a day! But I feel better when I take them. I used to get really faint and tired with headaches quite often, but now I feel great!
• I decided to give birth naturally with the Hypnobirthing method. It sounds weird but it's not. I took a class on it. My sister did hypnobirthing with all 3 of her children and she will be there to support me.
• We have the nursery almost ready!
• I've almost completely packed the hospital bag.
• I got stretch marks.
• I crocheted a baby blanket for her. It's yellow. It's not perfect but it's made with love!
• I'm also crocheting a few other small things for baby.
• I started doing water aerobics because I was gaining a little too much weight.
• I'm feeling Braxton Hicks contractions.
• Don't ask if we've picked a name. We haven't. We will. You'll find out her name very soon after we do!

Well as soon as I reach 37 weeks (Sunday) I will be full-term which means labor could kick in anytime. I hope I have at least another week and a half because I still have to finish school for the term and perfect a few things around the house. She's still a very active baby. I think she spins around on her head to pass the time- like a break dancer. I feel huge but I'm able to do all my daily activities with only a little more effort and discomfort. Any inconvenience is worth it because I love her to infinity and I can't wait to meet her!

On a side note- we are harvesting TONS of veggies from our garden. I don't know what to do with them!

Little Nudger

I'm in the "in between" stage where I look like i've got a ball of fat on my tummy but you can't tell if it's a pregnancy or just the result of exorbitant overeating and laziness. Well, for me it might be both. Anyway, it's hard for me to work my foxy lady attitude when I think all people see is the bulge coming from my tummy. Maybe when I get bigger it will go from a "foxy lady" attitude to a "foxy momma" attitude and then I will work it just like I always have! Any tips on how to make it more obvious that I'm pregnant and not just fat?

Happy news! Myles can now feel the baby moving when he put his hand on my tummy. He said our little nudger was really active last night while I was sleeping. Apparently Myles was poking and shaking me trying to get the baby to move more and I slept through the whole thing! He told me that feeling the baby makes him love the baby more because he now has first hand interaction with him/her. He likes to talk to our little one. :)

I started feeling the baby move at around 15 weeks which is pretty early. I think the little guy must be really active! At first it was just little rhythmic flutterings that I could barely distinguish from my pulse. I didn't feel them again for a couple weeks- I think I wasn't paying close enough attention- but lately I've realized that if I just sit still and pay attention I can usually feel her rolling around in there. I get a few random kicks here and there. Every once in a while a kick will get my attention even when I'm not trying to feel it. I love how active my little one is! I picture her dancing around in my tummy like a graceful little ballerina. :)

Last night I was about to eat some very sugary candy when Myles reminded me that the baby now has taste buds and it will develop a taste for the things I eat now. I decided not to eat the candy. I think I should probably improve my eating habits now that my baby can taste and my stomach is more stable. Help!

We find out on June 13th what gender our baby is. :) I can't wait! It's like Christmas except I can't sneak an early peek at my present! I don't have any idea what gender it will be. I'd prefer a girl, but I will love a boy just as much! I love my little Nudger. :)

Proceedings.

How it all began

14 weeks

16 weeks

18 Weeks

22 weeks

25 Weeks

32 Weeks

Almost 37 weeks (full term!)

Mirth in my Mouth

Since I was kid I have always loved eating fresh fish. When we would go up to the mountain on family vacations my Dad and sometimes my brother would go out fishing all day and come home with pounds of fresh trout that he would fry up for us. My sisters and I fished a little too, but only for a couple hours at a time and only in nearby places.

Now that I'm all grown up, I have to learn to cook fish myself. Unfortunately, I don't have pounds of fresh trout in my freezer so I buy my fish at the grocery store, but I enjoy it just as much. Yesterday I had a particularly delicious fillet of Salmon. So delicious in fact, that my taste buds have never felt so good in my life! It pretty much blew my mind.

In the past I have broiled my fish but I was getting mixed results with broiling so I tried baking this time. For instructions on how to broil, go here.

I used this salmon marinade and baked it according to the directions in this video (My fillets were pretty thin so I just didn't bake it as long). I love allrecipes.com and I use it all the time! I left out the peanut oil and the salt in the marinade because some of the reviews said it was good without the oil, or it was too salty. Well I ended up putting salt on top of the fish so you don't have to leave out the salt. While this marinade was good, I think I like this Teriyaki Salmon marinade better. But the thing that made last night's salmon so AWESOME was the fresh lime juice I smothered it in! OH MY GOSH!

This wonderful experience has inspired me to hunt for an amazing citrus glaze for fish, and also to make the perfect fish tacos (I am a big fan of Rubio's grilled fish tacos). Wish me luck!